


It Takes Two

by Sanalith



Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-22
Updated: 2012-03-22
Packaged: 2017-11-02 08:22:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/366951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanalith/pseuds/Sanalith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Touya muses on the importance of having a rival.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Takes Two

_“You can’t play Go by yourself.   You need two people.A masterful game cannot happen with just one genius.You need two people with equal genius – two.When you have two, you can finally take a step toward the Divine Move.”_

_~ Kuwabara Honinbou  
_

 

In its most basic form, Go is a game. To professionals, one might go so far as to call it a sport. Whatever its designation, games and sports and similar pastimes generally have one goal: To win.

   
Oh yes, they should be fun, as well. They should foster new friendships, build confidences, and provide sources of mental or physical exercise. But everyone who plays a game wants to win. It’s human nature. And there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with that.

   
But what happens when you win so often that you’re considered the best? When you’re unbeatable, untouchable, what then?

   
No one wants to play a game they have no hope of wining. An opponent may challenge you to try to learn your techniques, to try to grasp a piece of your greatness, but they’ll play a different kind of game, and neither of you will enjoy it. I know. It’s how I felt every time I played my father. And it’s how a lot of people feel when they play me.

   
What happens when you become invincible? I’ll tell you. You lose the will the play. You’ll make fewer and fewer friends and contacts. You’ll stop learning and eventually lose confidence. Those who play you will either want to study your skill or are arrogant enough to simply want to try to be the one to beat you.

   
It’s lonely at the top. I know. I was in sixth grade when it happened to me.

   
The funny thing is, I was hardly unbeatable at that stage in my life. Any pro could have torn me apart, as Fujiwara no Sai made quite clear late one afternoon. My father certainly did so regularly. But one learns quickly that, as a child, adults don’t truly count as rivals. No forty-year-old pro can make himself take an eleven-year-old challenger seriously, and no self-respecting eleven-year-old would expect him to. But I was clearly out of league with anyone even close to my age.

   
So where did that leave me? Alone on an island, too far beneath the notice of those I could challenge, and too far above those I _wanted_ to play with.

   
When I started chasing after Shindou Hikaru, I heard the rumors that followed me. They claimed I couldn’t bear to be outshone by a reckless newcomer. They said I wanted to challenge him to prove I was the best. They thought I originally scorned the term “rival” because I didn’t believe anyone was worthy enough to hold the title. They saw me as an arrogant snob who desired solitude and wanted no competition.

   
They couldn’t have been further from the truth.

   
The fact of the matter is that being seen as invincible nearly killed both my spirit and my game. With no true opponent, I was losing the desire to play and was turning almost totally inward. Finding an eternal rival was like discovering the secret to eternal life. Shindou Hikaru was my ticket to immortality, the kiss of life that brought me back from limbo in Purgatory to Paradise on Earth.

   
Almost twenty years have passed since I first met Shindou – and Sai – in my father’s Go salon. Together we have shaken the traditional form of Go to its foundations, coming closer to the Divine Move than anyone ever has. 

   
And we did it together. The greatest, most powerful Go player in the world could never do what we’ve accomplished. One person will never be enough.

   
Sai always understood that. I think it’s why he needed to play my father before he could finally pass on. One’s rival is like the other half of one’s soul. Without it, a spirit can never be complete.

   
In its most basic form, Go is a game. People play games to win. There is nothing wrong with this. But those who seek invincibility in Go prove that they never truly understood it. You’ll always need two people to play the game, and who better to play with than your rival, a person who constantly pushes you and challenges you, who opens your mind to ideas you’ve never before considered?

   
Given the choice to either lose and learn from Shindou Hikaru or become the greatest Go player in history, I’d lose to Shindou every time. 


End file.
